Federal Election 2013: Day 12 of the campaign

PETER Beattie has declared himself a &quot;fighter&quot; after polls revealed he has put Labor's vote in reverse and is facing annihilation.

On the campaign trail with our election team

News Corp Australia NetworkAugust 16, 20139:01pm

Kevin RuddSource:Supplied

PETER Beattie has declared himself a &quot;fighter&quot; after two devastating opinion polls showing he has put Labor's vote in reverse and is facing a shock annihilation.

The former Queensland premier has secured a two-party preferred vote of only 40 per cent to 60 per cent against the Liberal National Party MP for Forde, Bert Van Manen.

Mr Beattie today took to Twitter, saying: "I am facing the toughest fight of my political life with an AFR poll showing a thrashing in Forde. I am a fighter and will never give up."

The news about Mr Beattie comes as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he is the underdog in this election campaign - while Opposition Leader Tony Abbott earlier today said the vote could go either way.

Mr Rudd's admission came on a visit to Perth, where he was heckled by a man shouting "you're a f...ing idiot."

Earlier today, Mr Abbott and immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison said that by the 2016 election, levels of boat arrivals would be back down to the last days of the Howard era when there were just three arrivals a year.

Zero boat arrivals would be "the ideal", Mr Abbott said, introducing a touch new policy.

Mr Abbott is still yet to announce full costings for his policies, and is not likely to reveal them until the last week of the election campaign.